Green Bay News

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – A Beverly Hills shop owner who got celebrity help in hunting for her stolen dog has been reunited with the pooch.

Police Sgt. Max Subin says detectives found Charlie the white Maltese on Friday at a Lynwood home and returned him.

Surveillance video showed a pregnant woman snatching the little dog this week from the sidewalk outside Julia Cohen’s boutique.

Cohen’s friend, actress Hilary Duff, comedian George Lopez and singer Lance Bass all took to social media to urge followers to help find the dog.

A post on the boutique’s Facebook page thanks everyone who helped in the search.

No arrests have been made but Subin says the investigation is continuing.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Marion “Suge” Knight, the impresario of gangster rap, has long been a perpetrator and victim of the violent life he promoted in song.

On Friday, he was portrayed as both.

Sheriff’s deputies booked the former hip-hop music mogul on suspicion of murder after they said he hit and killed a man with his pickup truck, seriously injured another and then fled. His lawyer said he was an innocent victim who accidentally ran over his friend as he tried to escape a group of attacking thugs.

The incident was the latest in a long line of brushes with death and the law for the 49-year-old founder of Death Row Records, one of the genre’s leading labels.

Knight started the label that helped solidify West Coast rap with Dr. Dre, who had been a member of the legendary group N.W.A. The label also launched the career of Snoop Dogg and had Tupac Shakur in the last months of his life.

The fatal incident occurred a short while after Knight was told to leave a film location where he had argued with someone, authorities said.

The cast and crew were taking a break from filming a promotional video for the biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” about the rise of N.W.A., according to a person familiar with the project who was not authorized to speak about it publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The argument resumed and escalated a short while later at a fast-food restaurant about three miles away, with Knight and the man exchanging punches through his open window. Knight then struck the man and a friend with his vehicle and fled, said sheriff’s Lt. John Corina.

Terry Carter, 55, Knight’s friend who authorities do not believe was involved in the altercation, died at a hospital, Corina said. The other man, 51, was injured. Neither his name nor his condition was disclosed.

Corina said Knight backed up his pickup truck and knocked the man he had been arguing with to the ground.

“Then he puts the truck in drive, drives forward, running over him, and then keeps going forward and keeps on driving, and runs over Carter, who is standing in the parking lot, and keeps on going after that,” Corina said.

He said witnesses told investigators it looked like an intentional act.

Defense attorney James Blatt said Knight was called to Tam’s Burgers in Compton for a meeting and was attacked by four people as he slowed his truck. The men beat him through his window and threatened to kill him.

Corina said evidence thus far disputed that account. He said the 51-year-old victim is the only one who exchanged blows with Knight through the window before he got run over.

“To see the argument happen, it’s one thing,” said 17-year-old Robert Smith, who was eating in the restaurant. “Seeing the car incident, that was shocking.”

Knight punched the gas and fled in fear, Blatt said. He had no idea he hit two men. Corina said that claim is hard to believe.

Knight surrendered early Friday and was booked on suspicion of murder. He was being held on $2 million bail.

At 6-foot-4 and weighing 325 pounds, Knight’s reputation as an imposing figure is credited, in part, with helping create Death Row Records when he strong-armed another label to release Dr. Dre from his contract, said Chuck Creekmur, CEO of allhiphop.com.

“You can’t separate Suge from the music that came out of Death Row Records,” Creekmur said. “He’s linked forever to a really, really great musical period of time. And that would be linked to a really horrific period when we lost several of our brightest stars.”

Knight was at the center of one of the most notorious rap conflicts of the 1990s, pitting rappers Tupac Shakur against Biggie Smalls in an East Coast versus West Coast rivalry.

Knight was sent to prison for nearly five years for badly beating a rival with Shakur at a Las Vegas hotel, just hours before Shakur was fatally shot while riding in Knight’s car just east of the Strip.

Smalls, whose real name was Chris Wallace, was shot to death in a similar attack six months later.

Many of the records Knight released helped immortalize Compton, the LA-area city where Thursday’s crash occurred, in hip-hop folklore as a gritty and violent urban environment, although crime there has dipped significantly there since its 1990s peak.

Knight and Dre later had a falling out and Dre left. The record company eventually declared bankruptcy and was auctioned off.

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, another former N.W.A. member, were at the film location Thursday, but they didn’t see Knight, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity. Filming was shut down for the day and not resumed Friday.

The history of Knight’s run-ins with the law goes back more than 20 years and includes assault and weapons offenses.

In November, Knight pleaded not guilty to a robbery charge filed over an incident in which a celebrity photographer accused him of stealing her camera in Beverly Hills. Because of prior convictions, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

He has felony convictions for armed robbery and assault with a gun. He pleaded no contest in 1995 to assaulting two rap entertainers at a Hollywood recording studio and was sentenced to five years of probation.

He also served timed for probation violations.

Last August, Knight was shot six times at a West Hollywood nightclub. No arrests have been made.

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Associated Press writers Raquel Maria Dillon, Christopher Weber and Robert Jablon contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Milwaukee man who police consider a person of interest in the disappearance of his girlfriend was sentenced Friday to 19 years in prison for child pornography and keeping a drug house.

A jury convicted Kris Zocco, 40, of the child porn charges in November, and he pleaded guilty to the drug charges in December.

While both sets of charges resulted from the investigation into the 2013 disappearance of Kelly Dwyer, Zocco has not been charged with any crime for her disappearance. She remains missing.

Dwyer’s family and friends attended the hearing, wearing white ribbons that read “Bring KELLY Home,” but said little afterward, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of nearly 50 years. The mandatory minimum was three years in prison.

Judge Daniel Konkol said the state seemed to be recommending a life sentence

“He’s not even charged with homicide, and this court is not sentencing him for homicide,” the judge said.

Dwyer was last seen Oct. 11, 2013, on surveillance video entering Zocco’s apartment. She failed to show up at work the next day. Zocco told investigators he and Dwyer had purchased and used cocaine together at his apartment the evening of Oct. 10 and that he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Zocco’s attorney said his client had no knowledge that the child porn was on the computer storage devices investigators seized while investigating Dwyer’s disappearance. The defense argued that because Zocco worked in information technology, he had lots of extra digital storage devices around from his work servicing other people’s computers.

While some sophomores slump, Ripon guard Ty Sabin is busting out, with a season for the record books.

“I feel like I’ve put enough repetitions in,” Sabin said. “I’ve practiced enough that I feel like whenever I let it fly, there’s a good chance it’s going in.”

At 28.8 points per game, the New Berlin native is currently the No. 2 scorer in the nation for Division III and on pace to break the single season Red Hawks scoring record.

“There are gym rats and there are gym roaches,” Ripon coach Ryan Kane said. “Ty is a gym roach, he’s always in here even when the lights are off practicing.”

“It’s unreal,” Ripon teammate Kyle Loughrin said. “We’ve waited for him to have an “off-game” and he never has one. He just keeps getting better.”

Sabin will meet his offensive counterpart Saturday in Grinnell’s Jack Taylor. Taylor is the nation’s No.1 scorer at 30 points per game and also has two 100-point games

“You know what you’re going to get when they come in here, everyone does,” Sabin said. “It gets you going, knowing Grinnell is coming to town.”

“It’s good for our program, it’s good for the conference, it’s good for Division III,” Kane said.

It’s a feel good story. A lightly recruited kid becomes a small school star. But the Catholic Memorial product isn’t all that interested in a name in the rafters, unless it goes with a conference title

“As long as it’s up there next to a conference championship,” Sabin said. “We haven’t had in a while.”

In only his second year, Sabin is helping his team find a way, to tie it all together, In Ripon, Dylan Scott Fox 11 Sports.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker plans to rely on borrowing rather than a gasoline tax increase to fund transportation projects over the next two years.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the governor’s plan calls for $1.3 billion in borrowing for transportation, but the state’s overall borrowing would drop because Walker wants to delay construction of buildings that don’t already have initial approval, including projects in the University of Wisconsin system.

The newspaper reports the plan will let Walker tout his opposition to raising taxes as he considers a possible run for president. But the increased reliance on borrowing to fund highways may not go over well with his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature.

Walker plans to formally introduce the proposal Tuesday. Lawmakers will spend the next few months reshaping it.

BROWN COUNTY – We have new details on a large scale drug bust in Brown County.

More than two dozen people were arrested in what investigators call the area’s largest ever heroin ring.

And now we’re learning more about what methods drug task force investigators used to bust up the ring.

FOX 11 found out it was more than just wiretaps detectives used to uncover the alleged large-scale operation.

A number of investigative methods led authorities to arrest 36 people, 32 on heroin-related charges in a bust that began last summer.

Prosecutors say Jafari Mahonie of Illinois is the drug operation’s ringleader. Through his case we’re learning more about how investigators uncovered information.

Motions filed by Mahonie’s attorney, in which he is trying to limit the evidence that could be used against his client, explain more of the techniques used by authorities.

Those court documents show the drug task force relied on the extensive use of a confidential informant to buy heroin.

During the alleged drug transactions, the informant would record conversations with a wireless audio transmitter.

According to court records, investigators also used electronic and video surveillance to gather evidence.

Narcotics agents also watched hotels, restaurants and parking lots, tracking the movements of alleged drug dealers.

The head of the drug task force, Dave Poteat, declined an on-camera interview, but said visual surveillance is common.

However, he added what is unique to this case, is the number of people investigators were watching and the duration.

Court documents show the tracking of suspects allegedly involved in the ring also included the use of GPS devices on vehicles in at least one instance.

Poteat said this technique is also unique to the case. It’s not a routine investigative tool since the investigation has to show sufficient facts to get a warrant to use one.

We’ve reported the operation was heavy on manpower with many resources tied up in wiretapping.

Because law enforcement used wiretaps to record secret conversations, the case files were completely under seal for months.

FOX 11 went to court to get the records released. Last month, a judge granted our request unsealing parts of the case files.

However, any information in connection with the wiretaps remains protected under state law.

Some of that information though would likely be used during trials, and in turn be made public.

It remains to be seen what evidence may or may not be allowed at Jafari Mahonie’s trial. The motions to suppress evidence will be argued next month. The trial is set for mid-April.

MADISON – A day after Menominee Nation members and legislators asked Gov. Scott Walker to reconsider his decision on the proposed Kenosha casino, the governor said his rejection stands.

In a letter of his own, Walker thanked the ten state lawmakers for their letter regarding the proposed Hard Rock Casino in Kenosha. But after reviewing the information he says he still believes the risk to Wisconsin taxpayers is too high. Casino supporters challenged those claims Thursday at the state capitol.

You can read Walker’s full statement here.

Walker rejected the Menominee’s request to build an off-reservation casino Jan. 24. Initially he had until Feb. 19 to make a decision.

GREEN BAY – What used to be the old Daily Planet is now called Backstage at the Meyer.

“The project is coming along very nicely,” said Jeff Mirkes, executive director Downtown Green Bay Incorporated.

The first floor will include a reception area and a banquet space.

“At the same time it’ll be a very unique performance venue, a new venue for the area. It will include a small stage,” Mirkes said.

The estimated $3 million construction project started last fall. The project is something the Mirkes has been looking forward to.

“The lights haven’t been on in this building for over 15 years and we’re so pleased that we’ve got a great formula,” Mirkes said.

The second floor will be an extension of Breakthrough Fuel, an energy consultant company. It plans to move into the building by April.

But it takes a vision and then construction workers to put all the pieces together.

“It’s a challenging project in the simple fact that it’s a zero property project. We have no area to work. Outside it’s city sidewalk and then street,” said Stephen Payant, Smet Construction project manager.

The project manager says what’s most satisfying is when the work is all finished.

“The thrill to me and to Smet is to take something that’s basically been dead and talked about many times of demolishing and make it into something that’s going to be just beautiful,” Payant said.

Construction, on the first floor, is expected to be finished by May.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Madison man has pleaded guilty to three human trafficking charges.

Online court records show 40-year-old Lindy Gill pleaded to two counts of human trafficking and one count of receiving compensation for human trafficking in Dane County Circuit Court on Thursday. He also pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering safety in a separate case the same day.

He faces a total of 72½ years in prison. Court records didn’t indicate a sentencing date.

Prosecutors accused Gill in the human trafficking case of forcing a group of women into prostitution and taking all their profits. They accused him in the endangerment case of providing heroin to a 17-year-old boy resulting in his hospitalization.

Gill’s attorney didn’t immediately return an email message Friday afternoon.

GREEN BAY – A Howard man has been charged with stabbing his girlfriend.

Daniel Nilsson, 51, was arrested Monday following an overnight stabbing. Police said his 52-year-old girlfriend was stabbed four times.

Nilsson faces charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety.

In court Friday, a judge set Nilsson’s bond at $10,000. He is due back in court Feb. 13.

The Green Bay Packers have released special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum, coach Mike McCarthy announced Friday.

“I would like to thank Shawn for all of his contributions over the past nine years,” McCarthy said. “He was a positive contributor to our success, including helping us win Super Bowl XLV. We wish Shawn, Michelle and their family the best moving forward.”

The Packers struggled this season on special teams with seven kicks (extra points, field goals and punts) getting blocked. Also, punter Tim Masthay was last in the NFL with 14 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

The bright spots were kicker Mason Crosby, who made 34 of 40 field goals, including playoffs, and punt returner Micah Hyde, who led the NFL with a 15.8 yard average and scored two touchdowns.

ASHWAUBENON – The village board endorsed a deer management plan this week, which would allow culling of deer within the village.

Initial discussions are focused on allowing permitted bow hunters to kill deer, but the final parameters of the plan have yet to be finalized, according to clerk Patrick Moynihan Jr.

The village parks board is expected to discuss it Feb. 17.

Ashwaubenon has been working with De Pere and Allouez on the urban deer issue. An aerial deer survey last year showed at least 130 deer in Ashwaubenon alone.

GREEN BAY – Health care providers say there’s still plenty of time left in the flu season, and it’s not too late to take precaution.

Infection prevention experts at Green Bay’s Bellin Hospital say this flu season has been one of the toughest in recent memory.

“This year it came a little bit later, but it’s hit pretty hard. It’s been a big season,” said Ellen Roy, infection prevention specialist at Bellin.

Wisconsin’s five flu-related child deaths is second in the nation behind Texas’ seven flu-related child deaths. Wisconsin’s season total only ranks behind 2009 for most ever in the state. Health officials do not release flu-related adult death totals.

While health providers say we are supposedly past the peak of flu season, they still want people to get a shot if they haven’t yet. Places like the Brown County Health Department say people are still coming in.

“It tends to slow down a little bit, but because of the activities with that we still get calls to come in and we have children coming in that the parents are also asking for the vaccine,” said Chua Xiong, the interim health director for Brown County.

While not everyone believes in getting a flu shot, those who do say it is still important. That is despite this year’s vaccine being proven to not be as effective to fight this year’s main flu strain.

The CDC recently reported someone who received this year’s flu vaccine is 23 percent less likely to need hospital treatment for the flu.

“It’s very important that our citizens get the flu vaccine, because it still provides some cross protection and the other thing is we don’t know what flu strain is out there,” said Xiong.

“There really isn’t a deadline,” said Roy. “We say until we no longer have vaccine, but we have seen influenza all the way into May.”

If you have already received a shot, health workers say to remember to wash your hands, cover your cough, and stay home if you aren’t feeling well.

Take a look at some Super Bowl ads from Super Bowl XLIX.

Take an issue-by-issue look at Gov. Scott Walker’s proposals for the 2015-17 state budget.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Just before the execution of a Kurdish soldier by the so-called Islamic State, a new threat to America.

An ISIS fighter says his group will cut off President Obama’s head in the White House and turn the entire country into a Muslim province.

While we have seen both a drone and a man find success in getting onto White House grounds, very few are worried a member of ISIS would get anywhere close.

So why the seemingly empty threats?

Some believe it’s a method of recruiting.

Richard Vatz, Professor of Rhetoric at Towson University says, “When they show these executions they may be repulsive to you and me but to young intensive would be fighters that kind of gets them excited.”

In other words, there’s a bigger picture here, a long game. In issuing repeated threats to one of the world’s super powers, ISIS feels it looks tough which gives more strength to its propaganda machine.

Frank Cilluffo, Director of GWU Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, says this is a major part of their strategy, Terrorist organizations depend on the internet. They depend on social media such as Twitter and Facebook for their oxygen to breathe and to spread their propaganda.”

The terrorist organization reportedly has plans to launch a 24-hour news channel online.

“These aren’t just kids on iPhones. They’ve taken over cities, they’ve taken over TV production capabilities and the prod quality of their propaganda is productive and getting better,” Cilluffo said.

This is of course not the first the president has been mentioned by name in ISIS videos.

The White House has not said whether they’ve taken any extra measures to protect the president in response to this latest threat from ISIS.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Restaurant servers and other tipped workers in New York state would make $7.50 an hour before tips under a proposal recommended by a state wage board Friday

The proposal from the state Wage Board, which now goes to the state labor commissioner, would go into effect Dec. 31.

State law allows restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses to pay tipped workers less than the minimum wage as long as gratuities make up the difference. Servers are now paid an hourly wage of $5.

The Wage Board also voted to recommend that employers may pay workers a dollar per hour less if they make significantly more than the minimum wage when tips are factored in.

Labor groups wanted the tipped wage eliminated altogether so servers would make the standard minimum wage before tips. But restaurant owners said higher labor costs would be a burden.

Timothy Grippen, chairman of the three-member board, said the panel took both views under consideration.

“It’s fair for employees and for employers both,” he said of the $7.50 recommendation. “It’s a compromise.”

Board member Heather Briccetti, president of the Business Council of New York State, said she wanted to see any increase phased in gradually and worries that the increase from $5 to $7.50 will come as a shock to business owners. But she was pleased the board voted to recommend relief for businesses who can show their workers make 150 percent of the minimum wage or more.

The state’s minimum wage rose to $8.75 at the end of 2014 and is set to go to $9 at the end of the year.

Lawmakers are expected to debate another increase – and whether to give New York City authority to raise it even higher. The Wage Board recommendation includes a provision that would raise the tipped wage to $8.50 in New York City if the city is allowed to raise its wage higher than the state.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tiger Woods never looked more lost on the golf course Friday on his way to an 82, the worst score of his career.

Woods hit wedges fat and thin, but never close. He hit a tee shot in the water and another into a desert bush. And when he missed a 10-foot par putt on his final hole at the TPC Scottsdale, he had an 11-over 82 and was headed home.

This might have been more painful than getting his tooth knocked out last week in Italy.

His previous worst score was an 81 in the third round at Muirfield in the 2002 British Open, in 40 mph wind and rain. There was a light drizzle in the Valley of the Sun, and Woods hit a low point.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Police say a 4-year-old Milwaukee boy accidentally shot his uncle in the stomach after finding a gun on the floor.

Capt. Jason Smith tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the shooting happened late Monday. He says the uncle told police he was going to a gun range, and that the firearm was on the floor of the house when the child picked it up.

The investigation is continuing.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee police say a man fueling up his car scared off a would-be armed robber when he pointed the nozzle at him and threatened to spray him with gasoline.

A police statement says officers were called to the station just before 9 a.m. Friday, where the 53-year-old Glendale man told them a man had approached him with a gun and demanded his car keys. Instead he removed the nozzle from his vehicle and pointed it at the suspect.

As the robber fled, his intended victim noted his license plate number and the make and model of his car. Police arrested a suspect about 10 minutes later. Police say the 30-year-old Milwaukee man had a gun and marijuana in the car, which they believe he stole earlier.

Charges are pending.